Got my IMCr back in the summer and yes, I do use it regularly. Sometimes it's simply to punch through the cloud to get on top (and back down again), but frequently it's for maintaining IFR zone-transit altitudes. When I've been touring it's been of great help; taking off from a farmstrip in claggy Cornwall in 3000m/800ft, flying on top to Exeter and coming in on the ILS to break cloud at 500ft. Collecting the old girl from her Derby annual, going IMC at 800ft, getting on top at FL50 then taking the kind offer of an SRA into Leeds.
It's all about planning and currency, and I suspect I'm in the minority of IMCr holders. I would guess that a good 50% of flights in the back end of 2007 simply wouldn't have happened without having the rating. The rating is what you make of it; you can get it, then never use it and end up being an over-confident liability. Or... you can get it, use it, hone it and become a very capable instrument pilot.
Do I have £10k to complete an IR in a reasonable timeframe? Not really. The IMCr cost me under £1500 and was done in 3 weeks at a steady pace.
Would having to attend an approved FTO many hours drive away and learn a load of stuff which is utterly irrelevant to flying a Cessna please the missus? Take a guess...